I took the test last weekend in an English classroom. The following quote was hanging on the wall:
You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
~Rick Bradbury
I am currently reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire. I was inspired to read this book after hearing about a mom who successfully got an AP English teacher to take it off the syllabus. Nothing like a good book banning to make me want to read. I am not that far into the book, and I have yet to find it offensive. After all, it is just a book. I am not saying that if there is a book on your child's reading list you don't think they are ready for, by all means tell the teacher you want your child to read a different book. Suggest another book that will accomplish the same goals. But I don't think one parent should be able to change the reading list for an entire AP English class. We had a parent in my son's elementary school that tried to get a number of books removed from our library. She was told that she could say her child was not allowed to check out those books, but that they would not be removed from the library. I have yet to check if The Higher Power of Lucky (see Dorothy's post) is in my kids' school libraries. I suspect it is. If not, maybe I'll donate it...
Well, I had another quote, but it was pretty political, and I decided I didn't want to go there today. I am too fragile about things like that right now.
5 comments:
Tee Hee, sounds like the same idiots who are offended by breast feeding...
Especially for an AP class! These are the same parents who will try to control college professors, an unheard of concept a few years ago, but not uncommon now.
I never had an AP parent protest, but did have a couple from the enriched classes. One refused to have her son (whose behavior she really had no idea about) read The Scarlet Letter. I have no idea what book we ended up substituting, but I remember thinking that if this mother knew what her son was up to on weekends, she'd have more than severely punished adultry to worry about!
Gee, I'm getting an education here. I didn't know that the "s" word was an "s" word. I thought it was an anatomical label. What words are kids learning on Monday night "comedy" shows on CBS. The difference is that there they are being smarmy, not descriptive. I guess that's ok. I get mad at people, of any kind, who try to force their beliefs on others.
I read Wicked and really enjoyed it, be sure to read the next one too (if you enjoyed this one) called Son of a Witch. I really think he needs to write a third one. PS, did you know there is a Broadway musical of Wicked? I didn't until after I read it!
I didn't know that Wicked was on the hit list. Do you know why? Questioning of authority, perhaps? Judy Blume was a big no-no at one time where I taught, and I had to defend Huckleberry Finn to an African American couple, but after the principal changed, we never had any real complaints. As for the musical of Wicked, I saw it in Chicago not long ago, and I enjoyed it. The music isn't great, but it's quite spectacular, and the story is good. They pretty it up a bit, make it less dark. Hope you enjoy the book.
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